For Love
by VannuroRB
Summary: "I've never really liked sports. And I've never really liked being on my own too. Unfortunately, the two clash more often than I want them to". As Yugi comes to terms with his sexuality, he also learns the difficulties of growing up, and about the world around him.
1. Chapter 1

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu-I swear, in my mind it took about a week to write. In reality it took a little over a month to write. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

Anyways, I hope you enjoy your Valentine's special here. Oh and some characters may act out of character, but I can't be asked to edit it to make them seem believable. Just, just take it how it is okay?

* * *

I've never really liked sports. And I've never really liked being on my own too. Unfortunately, the two clash more often than I want them to.

My best friend, Joey, loved sports. Football to be exact. If we weren't doing something, or talking about anything in particular, he would suggest kicking a ball around or tell me the latest league results. His passion and enthusiasm for something I hated really touched me, and on the several occasions where I would have wanted to play a video game of mine, I found myself joining Joey in an amateur game of football. I guess that's what made me want to be his friend; the way he could convince me to do something I didn't enjoy in the first place so effortlessly. It was like a magic spell had been cast on me.

* * *

Chapter 1-The Wrong Stare

* * *

It had always been the two of us; just Joey and Yugi. It wasn't like we were outcasts or antisocial, we certainly got on with everyone at school, we were just tightly connected to each other. Even as a kid, I knew we would be friends for life.

Before we started third grade of Junior high, Joey told me what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to become a professional footballer. It honestly didn't surprise me, and though the idea of him becoming a celebrity sportsman seemed unlikely, I gave him my usual vote of confidence. He told me his big plans on how he would reach that goal, and decided that when we started at school, he would take the after school football club. That was something I didn't like.

Football club was only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and for a couple of hours at the most, but that was too long for me. I'd have to have a few hours of loneliness every Tuesday and Thursday for the rest of the year, while Joey would be happily kicking a ball about, blissfully unaware about how I would be coping. I wasn't going to let that happen, but I didn't want to be a jerk towards him either, so I told him I would join football club too.

It was a bad decision on my part, but I was a kid, I never thought about what I was doing until it was too late.

I never had fun when I went to football club. I was hanging out with Joey, and Joey had a blast with it, but I couldn't even pretend to enjoy the club. I was useless at the game. Joey quickly became an expert under tutelage, and easily became popular among the other boys in the club thanks to his skills. But I was dead weight on the club, always standing away from practice, and never being used in actual competitions. Being a burden made the other boys tease me and belittle me, but I managed to ignore them, and I kept up with football club.

One day during summer, it was a Tuesday, so we had football club again. Joey was arguing with me because I needed to use the bathroom, but he didn't want to be late to club, so decided to leave me behind while he went on ahead. I tried to finish up as quickly as I could, and ran to the changing rooms, hoping that I could make it in time.

As I burst into the changing rooms, I found Joey amongst the rows of lockers, snapping the rim of his sport shorts against his waist. When he heard me come in, he looked up, and gave me his usual scolding frown.

"There you are! Come on! You're gonna make me late!" He hissed as he dug around in his bag.

"S-Sure".

I hurried over to him, and set my bag down on the bench, pulling out my own sports uniform. As I took out my clothes, I turned to Joey, watching him as he took off his school shirt.

It really wasn't much of a sight to see. We were only fourteen, there wasn't even a body to see, just a slim outline. Still, it was enough to get me bothered. I hadn't thought of anyone's body like that before, I hadn't thought of anyone at all, it wasn't something that you really thought about as a kid. But there I was, ogling at my best friend. Chest tight, palms sweating, and eyes locked.

Thankfully Joey didn't notice my staring, and as he took out his sports shirt, I was brought back to reality in shame. I kept my head bowed, pretending to be searching for some lost item in my bag, hoping that Joey wouldn't see my embarrassment. Once he was dressed in the sports gear, he turned to me, and frowned.

"You haven't got changed yet?" He asked, though obviously knew the answer.

"Y-Yeah I'll…catch up" I managed to utter out.

Joey gave a frustrated sigh, but after zipping up his bag, ran out to join the others at the club. As I heard the changing room's door shut, I felt my body turn weak from the sudden ease of my chest and muscles, and I sat down on the bench. I was shaking, never having experienced such a feeling before, and yet I couldn't push the attraction away. I didn't know what it was at first, so I just called it 'The wrong stare'.

I didn't know what to do at first. Was it normal? As far as I was concerned, it felt wrong. I couldn't look at my best friend the same way after that, always distracted by the way he looked or how he did certain things, and always wanting more out of our relationship.

It wasn't too long until I figured it out; I was in love with my best friend.

Once I knew, I felt better about myself. I was still ashamed that I was sneaking looks on my best friend every now and then, but I understood why I was doing it, and I was beginning to feel happy again. But Joey never noticed, whether it was intentional or not, he never acknowledged that he knew. It hurt that I had to keep a friend only relationship with him, because I wanted us to be something more than just friends. So, I decided I would tell him how I felt, believing that he'd feel the same way about me.

One weekend, Joey and I were hanging out at my house; I was showing him the newest fighting game I had bought. As I was sitting next to him, watching him hammer the controller buttons, I knew that it had to be that moment. Right there and then.

My chest began to pound hard as nerves finally hit me; I was barely concentrating on the game as I was trying to decide on what to say. I only knew how girls acted around people they liked, was it supposed to be different with boys? I didn't want to look stupid, or make Joey feel uncomfortable, but that only limited to what I could say. I eventually concluded to two options; blurt it out and hope my speech didn't fail me, or outright do something like kiss him. Neither choice filled me with confidence, in fact it did the opposite, making me more nervous to the point that my chest ached with how stiff it became. But I had to do it; otherwise there would have been no other time.

With the sound of a neck snapping and pained groans, I looked up to my screen, seeing that Joey had beaten me in our digital fight. Joey cheered, throwing his arms up in the air, laughing as he did so.

"Did you see the way I kicked your head off?!" Joey exclaimed jovially "This game is epic! Wanna do another round?"

"S-Sure".

Joey then turned to me, silencing his victorious pride, as he watched me for a few moments "Hey, you okay? Don't tell me you're a sore loser".

"I-I'm not!" I tried to defend, though my weak and stammering voice did little to help.

"So why're you moping? You sure look like you're letting it eat you. Hey, it's just a game alright? Don't go obsessive over a bloody game".

The only thought I had at the time was 'crap'. He was close to realising, and I was starting to panic by then, either way he was going to know and I had no control over it. It was overwhelming for my young mind, but I didn't know what to do, and my trail of thoughts quickly became a jumbled mess. I had to do something, Joey was waiting for a response, and I didn't look like the most innocent of kids as well.

As I gave a small glance to Joey, I saw his hands clasped around the controller, and I saw my opportunity. My shaking hand reached out to his, slipping it between his skin and the controller, until I had my fingers wrapped around Joey's hand. We both sat in silence; no doubt Joey was finally hit with shock and realisation, while I was drowning in a body of nerves. With his hand within mine, I found myself stuck on what to do, I didn't know if it was the part where I spouted smitten lines or not.

But, as it turned out, I wouldn't get to that part. As I opened my mouth to say something, Joey forced his hand out of mine, dropping his controller as he stood up. He looked disgusted. My nerves turned to fear, as I could only keep my eyes on Joey, and hope that the inevitable didn't happen.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Joey hissed viciously "What are you, queer?!"

I was unable to answer. The hateful tone he used tore me in half, I felt nauseous as I realised that I had been wrong. From the very start, I had been wrong to fall for my friend, and I was paying the consequences.

With no reaction from me, Joey got the undesired answer. With nothing said, Joey marched to my bedroom door, and opened it. When I knew he was about to leave, I broke out of my frozen state, barely pushing myself up as he walked out.

"J-Joey wait!" I called out to him, following him to the top of the stairs, and watching him continue down "Joey please! Joey!"

Joey refused to listen to me, ignoring me as he put on his shoes ready to leave. My mum had come to investigate the noise, asking Joey if he was leaving already, but he ignored her too. Without saying anything, Joey left. With the strange reaction from my friend, my mum began to ask me what had happened and more importantly if we had had an argument. But I couldn't answer her. At that point, I was finding it hard to breath. I just stumbled back to my room, shut the door behind me, and sat down on the patch of carpet in front of my TV. I was devastated. Heartbroken even. I wanted to cry out, turn back time, or rip myself to shreds; anything that would change the incident that had happened. But I knew there was no magical cure.

After that, Joey and I never spoke again. Though I was nervous to try, I did attempt to apologise for the problem, but he never acknowledged my existence. Our friendship had ended there. We never hung out together, we never spoke to each other, and we even began to avoid each other at school.

Once we left Junior high, and made our way to High school, I learnt that Joey and I were starting at different schools. He made the effort to make sure we would never be schooling together again. He hated me that much, that he never wanted to see me again. I was destroyed, angry over myself and my cowardliness to not fix the problem.

My dislike became my fear. I was alone, thanks to my stupidity, and I had to bear with it for the rest of my life.

* * *

Oh no, I started off evil again.

Let's begin the countdown to Valentine's day, shall we?


	2. Chapter 2

By the way, I forgot to mention something.

There's a kinda glitch in this story, nothing that won't completely ruin the story, just something I couldn't think on how to change it. Maybe you can spot it, hehehe.

* * *

The first day I started High school, I felt like I was the epitome of misery. Beforehand, I had tried to convince my mum that I was ill, hoping I could postpone actually attending school. She saw through it however so, glumly, I had to go to school. As I stood at the school gate, I could feel my stomach knotting up, hating the sight I saw.

Everyone was with their friends. Whether it was a group of girls gossiping away, or boys roughhousing, everyone was in a group of three or more. I was the odd one out, standing by myself, with no friends in the world. I hated it. But there was little I could do to change it, so I held tight to my bag, and made my way through the grounds. I just hoped that I could reach my classroom before anyone saw me, dodging any kind of embarrassment or torment they wanted to give to me.

As I walked by, I could see how close everyone was, making me yearn for the friendship I had lost the previous year. It was like everyone was a clump of rice, just stuck together, but happy about it nonetheless.

I wished I was in a clump of rice.

* * *

Chapter 2-Two lone rice

* * *

After making my way through the grounds, managing to avoid everyone, I came to the entrance. The inside of the school was fairly quiet, only a few people were loitering around the corridors. I was about to pass them all, until I saw him.

He was just standing in the middle of the corridor, looking the other way, as if he didn't have a care in the world. I guessed from the tall height and the lax nature, he had to be a senior. He probably didn't even notice me, I was a new student anyway, but I noticed him. I stared longingly at him, rather attracted to his unkempt looks, and the cool and calm feel he had about him.

"Heads up Yami!"

The guy turned around, just in time to catch a flying football, which would have collided with his face if he hadn't been lucky enough. He was joined up by several other older guys, who all seemed to be his friends, before they walked off down the corridor chatting and laughing. I waited a few cautious moments, before stepping further into the corridor, and watching the group disappear into one of the classrooms. I knew nothing about the guy, guessing that his name was Yami since his friends called him that name, and yet I wanted to learn more.

Before I knew it, the stare had returned, and hit my stomach hard with sickness and shame. Not wanting to create suspicion on myself, I hurried to find my classroom, hoping that I would forget about Yami momentarily.

Once I reached my classroom, I saw the seating plan stuck up on the board, and found my seat at the back of the class. My lone desk in the middle of the aisles, second to last in the middle line, away from any sort of distraction. It was obvious that someone would have to have the terrible seat, and it just seemed fitting that it was me.

As I approached my soon-to-be desk, I slipped off my bag, and sat down on my chair. There were only a couple of people in the classroom as it was, and they had barely noticed I had entered, so I was free to relax for the next ten minutes. More and more people came in as time went on, sometimes on their own, and sometimes with their friends. They all found their designated seats, left their bags guarding their chairs, and went hunting for their companions. I remained sat in my seat, ignoring the world go by as I read my magazine I had brought with me. At my old school, we weren't really allowed to bring such things into school, so I had to read under my desk to make sure it wouldn't get confiscated. Though, back then I didn't have a problem since I had Joey to talk to, reading was my replacement for him.

"You're Yugi right?"

The question broke me away from my concentration, and I looked up, but to my surprise met no one. Perplexed, I looked around in every direction, before finally turning around behind me.

A boy similar to my age was partially leaning on the desk behind me, an eager grin across his face. His maniacal appearance was cringe worthy enough, but when I realised he was initiating a conversation with me, I found myself shrinking slightly in my seat.

"I saw your name on the plans, gotta know who my neighbours are" He added, explaining how he knew my name right away.

"Oh" Was all I replied with, and glanced back to the board. I hadn't thought to look at anyone else's names, but the thought to get up just to check the boy's name was ridiculous, not that I wanted to start a conversation with him anyway.

The boy sat back in his seat, ridding himself of the ecstatic grin, and showing a somewhat normal smile "My name's Shino".

"Shino? Okay" I gave a simple shrug, finding his name bizarre but didn't want to dwell on it, lest I caused some tension between us.

"Hey Yugi, did you come here with your friends?" He queried "You seem pretty lonely reading that comic by yourself".

I gave a small grunt, not really wanting to answer the question, so flipped the page of the magazine "It's not a comic" I corrected under my breath "It's a magazine".

"Oh. Right" Shino kept quiet, but that only lasted a few brief moments "A magazine about what?"

"Uh…games…and stuff".

"Games? Like, video games?"

"Yeah".

"Cool!" Shino leaned over his desk again, but this time his whole body practically laid over the desk, his head peeking over my shoulder to read the magazine "I'm into video games myself, but my mum says that it makes me an introvert, and refuses to let me buy them".

"Oh, right" I muttered, frowning at the brown, strewn mess of hair that was intruding on my face.

Shino then turned to face me, eyes glittering with excitement "What's your favourite kind of game? I'm an RPG kind of guy, but it gets kind of intimidating when there's someone telling you you're doing it wrong. Am I right?"

"Mm" I hummed in agreement, and turned back to my magazine "I'm good at fighting games".

"Sweet! I think they're the best ones! You got any good games?"

"Yeah, well…depends on what you call good I suppose" I flicked through a couple more of the pages, before shoving my magazine back into my bag, too distracted from it "I got the classics, and I got the newer ones. I got gruesome and child-friendly ones. So, it depends on your taste".

"Is that so?" Shino chuckled as he returned to his seat, but as he disappeared behind my back, I heard him whisper a small "Jackpot" to himself.

As the class filled with the rest of the students, the teacher soon followed suit, and began the lesson. Introductions and preparations were made, and the day acted like any other first day of school, everyone was mostly goofing off and establishing their place within the class. Shino made several more attempts to talk to me during class, making stupid jokes and trying to get my opinion about certain things. Though he was a little strange, I was grateful for the company, as it seemed that no one else wanted to talk to me, so the least I could do was chat back with him.

By the time it was lunch break, we had been set our timetables and given all of our mandatory books, we were ready for normal lessons the next day. Our teacher gave everyone permission to leave the classroom, and like rats threatened with extermination, they quickly evacuated. I sat by myself for a few moments, debating where I would find a solitary spot to eat alone, if such a place existed in High school.

"Hey Yugi" I turned around to see that I wasn't alone in the classroom, and that Shino was still sat in his seat behind me "Wanna have lunch together?"

I was perplexed at the offer, but it wasn't too strange after all his attempts to be friendly with me "I don't like eating in cafeterias" I explained to him.

"I wasn't going to eat in the cafeteria" Shino corrected, a mischievous grin forming again.

"Oh…then where?"

He opened his arms out, pointing to the empty classroom around us "Here. Where else? This is the quietest place in the whole school, am I right?"

I glanced around at the deserted classroom again, noticing that even the teacher had fled some time before, leaving just me and Shino in the room alone. Though the loud bustle of the outside corridors was hovering around, the classroom was like an untouchable sanctuary, and no one wanted to be in it unless they had too.

"Suppose you're right" I agreed, turning back round to face him.

"Great" Shino reached down to pick up his bag, searching around inside it to find his meal "So long as we don't make a mess, it should be fine".

I couldn't deny the offer of having company, even if I had to eat in front of a complete stranger, it was better than wandering around like a stray lamb. So I took my chair from my desk, and faced it towards Shino, so we sat opposite sides of his desk.

We didn't speak at first, we just began eating our lunches, settled with the peace that we wouldn't be disturbed in our classroom. Several times boys passed by the classroom door, hollering at the tops of their voices, giving the school its rightful annoying atmosphere.

"You know, you should probably go find your friends" I suggested "I'm not the best company to be around".

Shino only gave me a curious stare, half a cheese stick hanging out of his mouth, which crumbled with the slightest movement to his mouth. He bit it in half, catching the escaping part before it fell to the floor, and swallowed the other half that was in his mouth.

"I don't have any friends here" He said.

"What? None?"

"Nope. They all went to different schools".

"Oh…I thought friends usually stick together through schools?"

"Well we were gonna. But, for some reason their parents say I'm a bad influence on them".

"Bad influence?" I repeated with a frown "How come?"

"I don't know" Shino tapped the half bitten cheese stick against his cheek, as he thought to himself "I mean, I don't do drugs, and I don't mug old ladies, so I have no idea what they mean. Guess parents are just…parents. Right?"

"Mm, right".

Shino bit off another chunk of his cheese stick, letting it crunch inside his mouth, before swallowing again "How about you? You got any mates here?"

At the painful reminder, I simply looked down at my food, and shook my head "What? None? You seem like the kind of guy to have tons of friends!"

"Not really…I did have one friend but he…he didn't want to be around me anymore".

"Why? Did you two have a falling out or something?"

"Heh…something like that I suppose".

Shino gave a sigh, sitting back in his chair, as he stuffed the remaining cheese stick into his mouth. We both sat in silence, gloomily staring down at our food, with our wounds freshly opened.

"You know, I like your hair" The absurd comment made me look up again, raising my brow at Shino "What? Does that seem weird to you? I have a liking to unusual hair colour and styles" Shino then reached up to tug at his own mess of hair "Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted the blackest of hair; instead I got this pile of crap. But your hair is nice".

"You planning on becoming a hairdresser or something then?" I mocked lightly.

Shino laughed, letting go of his hair so he could shake his head "No, not in a million years! I guess it's a type of envy or something eh?"

"I guess".

Shino fought off the last of his chuckles, before calming down and leaning on the desk, putting us at a closer distance "We're pretty much the same, you and I".

"Huh? How so?" I asked.

"We've been abandoned by our own friends, through some reason or another, and now we're sitting here all alone. I was thinking, because of that, maybe we could be friends?"

"I…I don't know. I'm kind of…weird…"

Shino gave another laugh, before showing off his wide grin, and thumbing to his chest "You really haven't seen my true colours then. I'm probably the weirdest person on the planet, so you don't have to worry about freaking me out or anything. I just thought it might be a good idea, you know, save us some depressing times of wandering around aimlessly. Don'tcha think?"

"Yeah…well…I guess…"

"Great" Shino sat back in his chair, cupping his hands behind his head "I'm sure we'll do fine. I'm not one to get pissed off easily anyway".

I gave a small smile, apprehensive about declaring us as friends immediately, but the idea was admittedly enticing. I didn't want to spend the next five years alone in school, ending up being that loser that no one talks to; it's something that no one ever wants to become. But Shino did have good reasoning. We had been detached from our old friends, for our own separate reasons, and left to fend for ourselves through High school.

I guess it was my sympathetic side that kicked in, because the next day, and the many days after that, me and Shino grew considerably closer as friends. He was certainly weird and eccentric, something that I wasn't quite used to in a person before, but he was good company and was a cool guy.

I was no longer a loner in school, I had a friend. Someone who I hoped, ultimately, would replace the gap where Joey once stood.

* * *

Day two of the countdown!

Hope you're all getting prepared and shiz!


	3. Chapter 3

Just for the record, the opinions stated in this are purely the characters opinions, not mine.

Now I can't have my butt kicked.

* * *

As the bell rang for the end of the day, everyone gave a loud cheer, and rushed to the door of the classroom. Our teacher tried to reprimand them, but no one was listening, home was the only thing on their mind. Fortunately, I never stuck with the crowd, sustaining enough injuries to teach me to be patient. As everyone tried to push their way through the door, I sat at my desk with my bag on my lap, watching the idiotic attempt to break through the door.

"Hey Yugi" I turned around as I felt tapping on my shoulder, only to have a CD case flashed in front of my eyes "I managed to get a copy of Final Night Four!" Shino bragged, swinging the game back and forth in his hand.

I eyed the colourful cover with suspicion, before looking past it at Shino "I bet you shoplifted it" I teased.

Shino gave a pout at the insinuation "No! I saved up and bought it on my own. Just thought you might like a play of it, you know?"

"Maybe" I took the case out of his hands, and read the blurb on the back "What's it about?"

"It's a typical Japanese RPG" Shino explained "It's supposed to be really dark and scary. Sounds cool right?"

"Yeah, I guess" I gave a sigh of defeat, tossing the game back to Shino "Alright; you can come over and play it at my house".

"Alright!" Shino cheered as he put the game in his bag.

"Boys" We turned back to our teacher, seeing that the rest of the class had managed to push through the door, and we were the only ones left "You've got to go home now".

"Yeah, we will" Shino jumped up first, and grabbed my arm, practically pulling me out of my seat with eagerness.

As we left our classroom, I felt something tap against my shoe, and I glanced down to see a recognisable black and white ball sitting by my feet. Its sudden appearance intrigued me, and I was about to reach down to pick it up.

"Hey!" I looked up to see him. Yami was standing a few paces ahead of me, with a sports bag hooked over his shoulder, where the ball had apparently escaped from. He was looking right at me, getting my attention by waving his arm, and making a gesture which suggested that I should come closer "Can you pass it back?"

I quickly looked down at the ball again, knowing I should have picked it up and threw it back, but my body willed me not to. If I had picked it up, given it back, then Yami wouldn't have looked at me anymore. Taking my time, holding back, made him stare longer. It was a pathetic excuse just to receive some attention, but it was my excuse nonetheless.

"Here" Before I knew it, Shino moved in front of me, reaching down to pick up the ball "Take it!"

Shino threw it back to Yami, making him move forwards just to catch it, before turning to walk away again. As he disappeared within the sea of students, Shino gave an exasperated sigh, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Older students are such a bother" He muttered bitterly "I can't wait until we're the older ones. Right Yugi?"

"M-Mm" Was my reply, too stiff to form words.

Throughout the year, I had managed to avoid Yami as much as I could. With our different years it wasn't too hard to do. I only saw him from a distance, so there was no way he would spot me, and I could go on pretending to be innocent. But for him to speak to me, even if it wasn't a long or meaningful conversation, it set my body to stone. It was almost painful, I didn't realise how much of an impact he could make on me, but most of all it made me remember how it was like in the past.

"Yugi? Are you afraid of footballs?" Shino asked.

I managed to break out of my stupor, and turn to him "N-No! Of course not!" I snapped, and began marching off.

I was so embarrassed that I had let my guard down in front of my friend, but I knew that there was no way I could avoid Yami again, I needed to be closer to him. But that time around, I knew what to do, and what not to do.

* * *

Chapter 3-Hellish Football

* * *

Shino and I walked down the many streets, heading towards my house. My mind was still on Yami, torturing me with my desires, and putting my stomach into a nauseating storm. I had to take irregular deep breaths to keep me calm, but with Shino walking close beside me, it became a task just to make sure he wouldn't notice.

"Hey, uh, Shino?"

"Mm?"

"Do you know…that guy from earlier?" I queried, turning my head away in case he could spot the guilt playing out on my face "You know, the guy with the football?"

"Him? Nah. Never seen him before. He's probably an upperclassman, and they don't usually talk to anyone who isn't in their gang. Which suits me fine. I don't really like older students, they tend to think they're better than everyone else, but they're just plain stupid".

"Mm" I hummed, only half agreeing with what he said.

I was disappointed, but not surprised, with the lack of knowledge. It was a wild shot in the dark that Shino would know anything about him, and persisting about it would only lead him to suspicion, so I left the topic closed as it was. Still, I yearned to know more about him. To fulfil some sort of pathetic desire I had. I knew what the consequences would be, and yet, I still craved for it. A few days later, it turned out I knew exactly how to quench it. Disgustingly quench it.

As I arrived for school, I noticed they had stuck up signing forms everywhere for clubs. There was a lot more variety than previously; a lot of clubs I didn't even think existed were stuck up, a few names scribbled in the spaces provided. As I briefly glanced over each offer, I soon came across the football club. It was near packed with names, with only a few spaces left, clearly a popular club even in High school. I was about to move on, but I stopped as I spotted one name out of the rest.

Yami's name was in the cluster of names. Admittedly, I didn't know if it was the same guy. Yami's a popular name as it is, so there was, most likely, more than one Yami in the school. But seeing him before with the sports bag, and the football, it convinced me otherwise. It was little evidence, but it was enough to sway me, making me groan as I made my way to class.

I tried to avoid the form for most of the day, not wanting to sign my name on it, and tie me into the torturous routine again. But after seeing his name, my inner demon tried to take control, no matter how much I squealed.

"Yo! Yugi!" The hard shake to my shoulder snapped me out of my turmoil, lifting my head from my book, and seeing everyone already leaving for lunch. I relaxed with a sigh, thinking I had been caught daydreaming by the teacher, before turning to Shino behind me "You were way off, weren't you? Well, good thing it's lunch. So, I have this thing to tell you-"

"Not now Shino" I said as I stood up, cutting him off from what would have been, no doubt, a long explanation of something pointless "I have something to do".

"Something to do?" Shino repeated, suspicion already present "Like what?"

"Just…something" I vaguely responded, moving towards the door.

I had hoped to do it alone, but true to his curious and clinging nature, Shino followed me to the form. He looked about as disgruntled as I was about its appearance, so was unsurprisingly shocked to see me write my name in the remaining spaces provided.

"You're joining the football club?" He asked, almost offended, like I had committed a deadly sin "Why?"

"I…wanted to try it out…you know…" I mumbled a half-assed reason. I glanced at the three remaining spaces, and turned to Shino "Do you want to join?"

"Tch. Thanks but…football is something I'd rather watch than commit to. I'll pass this time".

I couldn't disagree with his reasoning, knowing that it fitted with my opinions as well. But with my inner demon taking control, I wouldn't admit it right there and then. All I needed was to be accepted into the football club, and to be near Yami again. However, I knew that I wouldn't be able to convince Shino to join the club, so I was going into it alone this time.

It was about a week later until football club started up, giving me a while to regret what I did, but knew I was sinking too fast to pull out from it. On the first day of football club, it was raining when I woke up, and stayed raining throughout the rest of the day. It was a perfect, dismal punishment for what I was doing, and typical of the weather overall.

After I parted ways with Shino—who gave me some good luck—I headed towards the locker room. As I got closer, I could hear the voices of the others already inside, loud and obnoxious sounding voices. Just by listening to their conversations through the door, I could tell that they were older students, only making me more nervous about the whole ordeal. I stood outside the door eavesdropping for a few minutes, before convincing myself I wasn't doing myself any favours by goofing around, so plunged myself into the locker room.

The obvious presence of teenagers hit me harder than a rock to my face. The sight of developed muscles, the much taller heights, and the talks of girls all made me cower at the reminder of my young age. Thankfully, they ignored me scurrying past, so I found myself a lone corner to hide myself within and change. I lingered with switching my clothes with my sports uniform, watching whenever someone had finished changing and left the locker room. I had hoped to see Yami somewhere, but I was disappointed when I ended up alone in the locker room. I didn't want to believe he would miss the first day of football club, so I quickly swapped my clothes, and headed out to join the others.

I ended up finding a small portion of the club talking to the coach, trying to convince him to hold the club inside rather than the pouring rain outside. Unfortunately, the coach was Mr. Takahashi, one of the sports teachers. I never had him as my teacher, but his reputation of being a jerk was passed down quickly among new students, so I heard about him regardless. Despite it a better idea to stay inside, Mr. Takahashi wanted us soaking and shivering, so ordered us all to march out into the torrential rain.

In a matter of seconds, I was like a drowned rat. My clothes had sagged down like fat skin, my hair splattered and stuck over my face like glue, and I was trembling worse than an earthquake. I wasn't happy in the least. I was holding myself for dear life, trying to give my arms some small warmth, while trying to determine why I was standing in the rain instead of being at home in the dry. The other guys were much more tolerative of the rain, laughing and joking around with each other; it made me hate their carefree attitude to our punishment.

Our teacher soon joined us outside; quickly turning drenched thanks to the rain, and set us some ground rules. As I listened to the teacher, my knees began to quiver, and I began to question the path my life was taking at that dreary moment. Once our teacher drilled it into our heads what he expected of us, and that he was not planning on taking it easy on us, he opened the ball bag and gave us our first orders of the day.

Everyone swarmed to the bag, collecting their own individual footballs to toss around, leaving me to dig out the last one at the bottom of the bag. I managed to put myself a safe distance away from the group, allowing me to have the solitude I wanted, but not completely detach myself from the club. No one even noticed anyway, so I was free to mess up without watchful eyes constantly on me. However with the rain freezing my bones to ice, I cared little about any slip up, or if anyone did see me.

With the ball under my foot, I lightly toyed it from side to side, while I grumbled about my predicament. It was stupid to think I could get away with stalking again, and expect to achieve something out of it. I knew in the back of my mind it was a waste of my time. And yet, a part of me wanted to prove that I was wrong, that it wasn't a repeat of last time.

With the swirling storm of thoughts going on inside my head, I lost concentration on my ball prisoner, and the football shot out from under my foot and skidded across the wet grounds. My joints and muscles pleaded me to stay rooted to the spot, but with the football escaping further across the school grounds, I had no choice but to chase it unless I wanted yelling in my frozen ear.

However, by the time I decided to physically move after the ball, it had already been caught by someone else. Despite the wet dog appearance he had, beneath the ruined black hair, was a soaked Yami. My body hardened to a painful degree, squeezing out any breath I had left in me, and mixed my sweat with the attacking rain. I began to panic as Yami reached down to pick up the soggy football, and started to approach me. There was no way I could avoid talking to him, but I couldn't even produce a safe amount of breath, let alone spit out some words of gratitude.

Yami stood in front of me, sending a shockingly painful chill down my spine, as I could only stare up at him. He held the ball out in front of me, and after a few minutes of stupidly staring at the thing, I reached out to pull it into my chest.

"You should keep a better hold of it, okay?" Yami teased.

It was clear to me that he was playfully mocking me, and I should have responded with a nonchalant thanks and left it at that, but I couldn't do anything. I just kept my head bowed, and nodded, like I was a small child talking to a stranger. I knew what I was doing was pathetic and embarrassing, but I didn't have the strength to do anything else, I was ready to timidly accept any torment he wanted to lay on me.

"Do you want any help?" I kept my silent guard playing, and only shook my head as a response "Okay, if you say so".

His boots squelched in the rain puddles as he walked away, and when he was a safe distance away from me, I lifted my head to search for him again. As I thought, he had reunited with his friends, no doubt forgetting about me instantly. With a cool wash of rain running down my back, I came to my senses, and went back to focusing with the football.

The session was only a couple of hours long. But still, at the end of it, I was a rain drenched version of an ice statue. Thousands, upon thousands of tiny ice needles pierced my sensitive skin as I tried my best to wring out my hair, glad that the torture was over for that day. Finding my secluded corner, I ripped off my soaked clothes, happy to replace them with my dry and warm school uniform. Everyone else had already filled the rest of the locker room by then, filling the once peaceful surroundings into the bustling, teenager, hormone driven conversations I had heard before. I paid little attention to them that time, filling my head with plans on what to do when I got home, mainly playing one of the many games I had in the warmth of my bedroom.

"Hey, did you see the idiot before?" One exceptionally loud voiced asked.

"What? That second year?" At the indication that they were talking about me, I broke away from my thoughts, and took interest in what they had to say "What a loser! I can't believe he joined the team, he's total garbage!"

"I know right? He was practicing all by himself and away from the group, like he's emo or something. And he's not particularly good to begin with, what was he thinking joining the team?"

"He probably wants to take the piss out of us. What an asshole".

They continued to taunt me from within the rows of lockers, and I listened to every word of it. It wasn't something I hadn't heard before. I knew I wasn't good to begin with, and I was used to all the teasing back in Junior high, it just brought me to common sense hard. I wasn't good at the sport, and the only reason I joined it was so I could get closer to someone who barely noticed me anyway, it was a stupid excuse to join something that required skill and dedication. I thought to myself that maybe I should quit while I had the time. One training session in wouldn't be too odd to come to the realisation I didn't like the club, so I was sure I wouldn't get interrogated like a criminal, and I wouldn't have to bother anyone again.

"Oi! You shouldn't talk about people when they aren't here" My back snapped straight as I stared at my hanging jacket, listening to Yami's words "That's not very polite".

"Come off it Yami, you gotta admit he sucked like hell too".

"Sure. Maybe he did. But a club is supposed to help people grow better, right? Of course he's not going to be perfect right away; he's got to learn somehow".

"Still…"

"And he's probably nervous because he's the youngest among us. Though, if I was in his position, I wouldn't want to train with you if you talked about me like this behind my back".

"Don't act all heroic Yami! Why you sticking up for the kid?"

"To make sure the likes of you don't do anything stupid. Give the kid a chance, he'll learn".

"Tch. When were you always this nice?"

"And when were you always such dicks?"

"Oi! Don't try and make something out of this Yami! We'll forget about the kid if he's so damn important to you!"

"Good".

I could feel another nauseating storm brewing in my stomach, and my fingers shook as I tried to unbutton my shirt, listening intently to see if I was in any other kind of conversation. I was numb. Yami, who had no contact with me bar the one conversation we had, had stuck up for me.

Admittedly, I wasn't used to the feeling of being defended before. The teasing wasn't as severe as some, and I had grown used to it, so I was used to ignoring it and going on my way. So to know that none other than Yami had protected me gave me a sense of happiness, a kind of euphoria. But, I wasn't sure how to treat such a kind gesture.

I should have thanked him, no doubt, but that would have meant that I admitted to eavesdropping. But deep inside me, I wanted to know how much he acknowledged me; was I known as Yugi to him, or just some kid? With the situation spiralling out of control in my head, I focused on changing quickly, and leaving before I was noticed. No one saw me leave thankfully, so I made a quick escape, giving myself a chance to pretend the whole ordeal had never happened.

Still, despite a terrible and embarrassing first day at football club, I was trapped. I was no good, I was a bother to everyone else, and it drained me dry like a vampire. But I stuck to it. I kept up with football club during High school, only because he was doing it too.

This may be my personal opinion, but, football is easily the hell on earth.

* * *

Day three of the count.

Get those chocolates out!


	4. Chapter 4

Despite this being one of the longest chapters in this story, I feel it is one of the worst too.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

* * *

During one of our lessons, the teacher circulated around our desks, presenting us each with a form of some sort. Once I got my hands on an application, I read it quickly before focusing on the lesson. It wasn't anything of great interest to me; it was a school trip to an exhibition at an art park. I wasn't too interested in art, another skill I lacked in, but unlike others I didn't loathe art.

I thought about skipping the trip that time. We had had many other trips during the past two years, and they were fun and educating in their own right, but I was sure I would hate the art park. The only thing we would have done would have been to take sketches of other people's work, and we'd be in tight groups with restrictions on where to go, the opposite of fun.

"Hey Yugi, you going to go on the art trip?" Shino asked one lunch break.

"Mm…don't know" Was my response, intrigued to see why Shino had asked.

"I was thinking about going. Could be interesting, you know?"

I raised my brow suspiciously at him "You into art?"

"Hell no. If someone asks my opinion on the meaning of a painting, I'd just stand like an idiot. But, a trip away from school is always away from school. It's nice to have a break away from school, as much as I like it. What do you say? You could do with a break; what with how the football club runs you dry".

I only gave a quiet hum, thinking over the reasoning Shino gave. I couldn't deny that the chance of having a day off from school was nice, even if we still had to do some form of work. The more I thought about it, the more Shino could easily convince me, and made my reasoning seem lazy. So, in the end, I decided to go with him. I thought, what could go wrong on an art trip?

* * *

Chapter 4-What goes wrong, can go right

* * *

After joining the football club, I wasn't feeling too confident about my decision, but the two struggling years proved to be beneficial. At least, for me it was. Gradually, Yami and I got to know each other through the club. We weren't exactly best friends, we never hung out or traded secrets, but we had passed the stage of saying just hello. The club was the only time we ever met up, but that was fine for me, because Yami turned my view on hellish football to something I anticipated for every week. Just being able to stand next to him, talk with him, made my existence complete.

After a few weeks had passed, and everyone had handed in their signed forms, the day of our trip to the art park arrived. Like he promised, Shino had been accepted on the trip along with me, which put him in high spirits. The school had hired a couple of coaches to transport us to the park, and after an hour long journey, we reached the art park.

As I had predicted, the teachers gave us a set of particular rules that we had to follow, or else suffer the consequences. We had to stay within the group, no wandering around without supervision, and no bugging of other visitors at the park. And once we got our supplies, we were told we had to sketch as many sculptures as we could, to help us further our grades. It was the one reason I didn't want to go in the first place, but I had Shino with me, so I was certain the trip wasn't going to be completely dull.

We walked around the garden, stopping at every opportunity so we could make observational sketches, before moving on to the next inanimate piece. It was tedious to keep getting up and moving to a new spot, only to move after ten or so minutes, but we had no choice in the matter as it was.

At one particular sculpture, me and Shino had found a bench by the path, and decided to claim it as our own for however long we were going to stay there. The abstract sculpture was a pain just to look at, let alone trying to mimic it on paper, and yet there I was determined to make my sketch look half-way decent.

"Hey that's not bad Yugi" Shino complimented, nearly leaning into my shoulder.

I looked over the jumbled mess I had drawn, not overly impressed by my standards, before glancing to Shino's drawing. While I wasn't one to completely insult someone's lacking skill, I couldn't help deny that out of the two of us, I was the one with the better sketch.

"It's not that great" I denied.

"Bullshit. I bet it's because of all the games you play. You pick up on the art styles or something".

I gave a small chuckle "Yeah, probably".

I continued to work on my sketch. After receiving the praise from Shino, I was determined not to let my standards fall, encouraged to do better. We were silent for a short while, with only the noise around us breaking the silence, until Shino gave a sigh.

"Hey Yugi, wanna sneak away for a few moments?"

I stopped with my sketch, and looked up at Shino "What? And get detention? I don't think so".

"Come on, we aren't going to leave the park" Shino reassured, standing up from the bench "I just want to see one exhibit in particular, it's only here for a short amount of time".

I stared suspiciously at him "I thought you weren't into art".

"I'm not. But I know when something's famous, and there's a piece here in this park. What do you say?"

"I don't know. What will we say if we're caught?"

"We'll just say we wanted to take a look and sketch it" Shino then held up his pad, filled with terrible attempts to draw several sculptures "I mean, drawing a famous piece for school can't be too bad, right?"

I gave a small hum, and looked to the others on our trip, specifically the teachers. Everyone was distracted with their work, so if we were to slip away, it had to be there and then. I looked up at Shino, seeing his usual, puppy-pleading face he gave when he wanted something, and I knew that I had no choice but to follow him.

I stood up from the bench as well "Alright, let's go then".

"Alright" Shino cheered, and started leading me down the path "I think it's supposed to be over here".

Shino led me deeper into the park, soon reaching a point where I could no longer see the group. I kept a look out for anything that seemed to gain Shino's attention, but all I could see were boring animal sculptures, or a mess supposedly called art. I was left confused as I followed Shino, wondering what on earth he wanted to see, and why it was so important to see it then.

After a while of traversing through the park, Shino started to drift away from the path, walking through the grass lawn.

"It's around here somewhere".

"What exactly are we looking for?" I asked, looking around again.

"You'll see" Was all Shino responded with.

He took me further across the park lawns, before smiling, and pointing ahead of him "There it is!"

As Shino hurried off to greet it, I gave one last glance behind us to make sure we weren't discovered, before following Shino's path. I spotted Shino in front of a statue, and gave a perplexed frown at it.

It was a sculpture of a woman, with a shawl wrapped around her waist, and her hands caressing her sides. It was clear she was supposed to look seductive, even beautiful, but her dismal expression said otherwise. I caught up with Shino, who was standing in front of the protective fence around her, and his eyes locked on the statue.

"This is what you wanted to see?" I questioned, puzzled.

"Yeah. I heard this was moving around the country, and was here when we would be. Kinda makes it special, don't you think?"

I eyed the statue again, and shrugged my shoulders "If you say so".

"Come on, don't be such a downer" Shino teased, and sat down on the spot "I'm not very good at drawing people, but if I make the effort, it should be good enough for a good grade, right? You going to draw too?"

"No. I'm not good with people too".

Shino gave a chuckle as he started sketching, resting his board on his knee "Okay. If you really don't want to".

Shino fell into concentration easily, only briefly looking up at the statue to make observations, before returning to his sketch. I watched him draw for a while, before turning myself into a lookout, waiting to see if anyone from our trip would spot us. But we were alone, for quite a while.

"I'm surprised you haven't said anything" Shino said, breaking our silence.

I turned back to him, seeing the progression he had made on his sketch "About what?"

Shino nodded his head towards the statue "About miss Venus here".

I looked up at the lady again, eyeing her partially naked body, before turning back "What about her?"

"You know, the fact that her tits are hanging out".

The blunt comment made me look up at the statue again, specifically at her supple chest, trying to figure out why someone's stone breasts were worthy of anything.

"There's a lot of immaturity in the world as it is" I replied, looking around again "Besides, boobs are boobs, nothing really important about them".

"Ha, I know right? That's why I wanted to come here quickly. If anyone else saw this, they'd probably act like prats and talk about her 'big melons'. Hm" Shino held up his sketch, comparing it to the statue "I can never get faces right".

After scrubbing away at his picture, Shino resumed his sketching "Do you know who she is?"

"You said she was Venus, right?"

"Yeah, the Roman goddess of love. I wonder how she must feel having pervs ogle her all the time. Bet she must hate it" Shino gave a sigh, and rubbed away at his drawing again, before holding it up once more "You know…this doesn't look too bad without a face".

I moved closer to Shino and observed his sketch. It was what I expected from Shino, a badly drawn image of the Venus statue, though missing the solemn expression she had.

"It looks kind of creepy if you ask me" I admitted.

Shino laughed, and put aside his board "Yeah I guess it is. You know, that's what I like about you".

"Huh? What?"

"That you're mature. You know, not going crazy over a pair of tits and all" Shino rose from his spot, and stretched his arms in the air "You have a lot of good qualities like that".

"If you say so".

"Heh, I know so".

Unsure of how to take the comment, or where the conversation was leading, I looked away to distract myself. I had noticed that Shino had been acting weird during the day, but I didn't try to dwell on it too much. After all, Shino was weird in his own right. But being near him made me feel uneasy, bringing about a strange sense of dread, almost suffocating me.

I felt fingers in my hair, and at the touch I turned back to face Shino, only to realise he had moved closer to me—more closely than I had first anticipated. We just stared at each other, not saying a word, until Shino gave a faint smile. His hand caressed the side of my face, twirling the ends of my hair around his fingers, as he stared at my hair.

"Your hair is a good quality too" He added, rubbing a lock of my hair between his finger and thumb "I really do enjoy it".

I was stunned. A little queasy from the uncertainty of the scenario, but immobilised all the same. Shino continued to play tenderly with my hair, almost hypnotised by its touch, but remaining silent as I was. But I didn't need an explanation. I knew what he had meant, and I knew what he was doing. I had seen all the symptoms before, in myself. I just couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before, after the whole time we had spent with each other, I didn't know why I hadn't picked up on it before.

How did I not know that Shino had feelings for me?

I was instantly lost in a wave of confusion and guilt, cursing myself for letting it carry out that far, and ending up in that situation. If I had been smart, thought about things going on around me, I would have seen for sure.

But I was quickly pulled out of my thoughts as Shino made a move on me, attempting to make contact with me, aside from touching my hair. Out of instinct, I backed away from the kiss, and from his hold altogether. The movement didn't go unnoticed though, as Shino gave a perplexed expression.

"Yugi?" He said, as if asking that I had made a mistake, that I had acted out of some other reason.

"What…what are you doing?"

Shino must have heard the harsh tone that was beginning to form inside me, because his puzzled face suddenly turned pleading, almost as if he would start crying "I thought…you knew…"

"N-No! I didn't!" I snapped back at him "If I had…! I will never go out with a queer like you!"

As soon as I fell silent, I could feel the disgust already growing inside me. I wasn't sure what made me say those words; a mix of uncertainty of how to deal with his feelings, and the suddenness of the situation left me feeling angry, causing the lash out. Even to this day, it still sounds like a petty excuse, and I knew that back then too.

Shino didn't say anything for a few moments, before turning away, and mumbling a small "I see".

Shino reached down to pick up his sketch, and walked off again, leaving me behind at the statue. I didn't attempt to call to him, to try and reconcile, or to apologise. I had been in the same position he had been long ago, and had been horribly rejected, so I knew exactly how he was feeling. There was little I could do to change that feeling.

For the rest of the trip, Shino avoided me. He didn't speak to me, he didn't hang out with me, and I didn't try to bridge the gap we made. If I had known any better, I would have mended the wounds as soon as I could, and not just let it fester throughout the day.

The day after the trip, and the several others following it, Shino didn't return to school. Every time I looked back to the desk behind me, a pit of guilt grew larger with the absence of Shino. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be alone, but it struck back hard with Shino gone, and I knew there was nothing I could do to avoid it. It stuck around like a hanging curse, but it was something that I deserved anyway.

Without Shino to keep my spirits high through the school day, I started to have withdrawal symptoms, turning socially inept. I made little effort with class, blocked everyone out, and stopped attending football club. Not even the thought of Yami could help me. I was too absorbed with the idea that I had condemned Shino to the same thing I had suffered years ago, through no fault of his own, and that we may never rekindle our lost friendship.

It had been nearly a week with Shino's disappearance, and I was only plummeting further into my own depression, unsure of what to do. The most logical step would have been to see him; a week away from school was ridiculous as it sounded, and I had known that I was out of place, and was willing to apologise. But I was too scared to even face him. I didn't know if I had created another situation like the one with Joey, and if I had, Shino might not have wanted to see me again.

"Oi!" I was pulled out of my stupor with a hard jerk backwards. I turned around to see Yami behind me, his hand grasped on my bag "Did you not hear me calling to you?"

"Uh…s-sorry…" I mumbled an apology, and freed my bag from his hold.

"Where were you going?"

"Home…like everyone else is".

"I haven't seen you at football club for a couple of days, is there something wrong?"

I knew it was inevitable that skipping football club wouldn't go unnoticed, but I had hoped it would have been anyone but Yami. Even the raging yells of the teacher would have sufficed, rather than Yami interrogating me.

"Just…stuff…" I gave as a feeble excuse.

Yami only stared at me, before giving a heavy sigh "Is it really that bad that you have to skip practice?"

"Yeah. Yeah it is".

"Then why won't you tell me? Maybe I can help".

"I…I don't know…"

"Yugi, I want to help you out. Trust me, okay?"

The small plead caught me off guard, and I became apprehensive about what to do. To admit what had happened with Shino might have put me and Yami in a bad position, I didn't know how he'd react, and I didn't want to lose yet another friend. Especially if it was someone I cared deeply about.

"Come on, how bad can it be?"

The more Yami tried to get the answer out of me, the less I could keep him in the dark about it, I had to tell him no matter the consequence.

"Not here" I said quietly, watching some passing students "I don't want other people to hear about this".

"Okay…so where?"

I didn't answer him at first, unsure myself as to where to go, considering that it was the first time we would spend time together outside of the club. Regardless, I told him to follow me, and led him away from the school.

I was thinking on the go, trying to come up with an ideal place of solitude, while also somewhere where Yami wouldn't deem too weird. My feet eventually took me to the park, and that's where we stopped. One corner was turned into a playground, while the rest of it was left as grass. It was usually popular with mothers and children alike, but that day it was exceptionally quiet, with only a group of young kids kicking a ball around. It was good enough for our talk.

We sat down on the swings, and after I checked that the kids were far away, I began to explain everything. I told Yami about the trip, about how wrongly I had reacted, and how Shino hadn't returned to school since. I was worried at first. Yami said nothing during my explanation, just sitting quietly as I talked; I feared that he was growing to hate me the more I spoke.

"Damn…I didn't realise it'll be that serious" Yami leaned back on the swing, causing it to rock him gently "But I guess I can understand why you'd feel like crap".

I gave a dismal nod "I guess…it's too late to do anything about it now though".

I looked up as I heard something come closer, and watched as a ball rolled towards us, only stopping by touching Yami's feet. He stared at the round object as well, giving a small smile at its tattered appearance.

"Hey!" We spotted the kids signalling to us "Pass us the ball back!"

"Alright" Yami got up from the swing, and picked up the ball, throwing it back to the kids. The kids easily grabbed the ball again, and resumed their game, leaving us alone again "You know, it's still not a good excuse to skip practice".

I looked up at him, puzzled "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I find that distracting myself helps with things that bother me. Besides, you could have told me sooner too, instead of just moping around".

"I…I couldn't tell you…"

"Why not?" Yami turned back to face me, hands on his hips like a scolding mother "Aren't we friends?"

The close term caught me off guard, but made me happy, though somewhat speechless as I tried to hide the embarrassment growing on my face "W-Well y-yeah…of course we are…"

"Then you need to have a little more faith with me. It might surprise you, but everyone comes to me for advice, so I'm used to about everything now".

"Really? You don't seem like…"

"The type? Don't I know it" Yami walked over to our bags, and picked up his own, slipping it over his shoulder "And about your friend, I think he'll come around in his own time".

"You think so?"

"I'm certain. He just needs time to think things through, but he'll be back at school before you know it. Then you can apologise to him".

I gave a sigh, hanging my head "If he even wants to talk to me again".

"If you two are friends, he will do. Is that all that's troubling you?" I gave a nod "Then I have to get going. Try not to worry about your friend; sometimes when things go wrong, they can also go right again. So don't let it bother you too much".

"Yeah, I won't" I watched as Yami began to turn away, about to leave the park "Yami wait!"

Yami stopped and turned back to me "Hm? What's up?"

"I, uh, I-I wanted to say…thanks…for listening and all".

Yami chuckled and shrugged his shoulders "It's fine. Just try not to do a disappearing act again, okay? I was getting pretty worried about you".

"I-I'll try not to do it again".

Yami smiled one last time, before returning to his walk, giving me a brief wave "See you tomorrow Yugi".

"You too Yami".

I watched him leave the park, until he was on the side path, and eventually out of my sight. I was the epitome of happiness. Just the fact that Yami called us friends, and was concerned about my wellbeing, just gave me another reason to fall harder for him. I was ecstatic to know that he had been thinking of me, even if he didn't have to, it made all those hard times through club worth it.

After collecting myself together, I picked up my bag, and returned home in a happier mood. With Yami's reassurance, I knew I couldn't go wrong, and decided that if Shino wasn't in school again, I'd go to him. I felt unstoppable, and an apology was certainly something I could do.

The next day at school, Shino had returned. He was sat at his desk, head bowed, as he played with something underneath his desk. Despite being thrilled to see him again, I was a tight bundle of nerves, dreading what would happen. But there was no way I could avoid him, my desk was in front of his. I slowly made my way towards my desk, and once close enough, sat down in my seat. Shino didn't look up when I arrived, so I knew that I had to be the one to start things.

"Um…Shino…?" I waited for a response, but I received nothing. But I wouldn't give up easily "I…I'm sorry, about what I said before. I shouldn't have been so harsh to you. It was just…so sudden; I didn't know what to think. But, I didn't mean to say those things. It's just…it's just that you're my friend Shino, and that's all I ever want us to be. So…do you think you can forgive me?"

I was met with silence, which only fuelled my dread. I wondered if I had said something wrong, or missed something to make it sound sincere. It sounded like an honest apology to me. But, then again, I wasn't apologising to myself either.

"Final Night five is coming out in a few days you know".

The casual change in topic finally made me turn around. Shino was smiling like he used to, and produced a magazine from underneath his desk, the thing he had been playing with before. He held it up to me, and pointed to the article he was talking about.

"I've saved up my money again, so I can buy it" He explained "I'm presuming it'll be alright to play it at your house though, right?"

Hearing Shino sound and act the way that he usually did, I managed to smile back "Yeah. Of course".

"Great. I hear there are unlockable characters in this game".

"Unlockable characters?"

Shino then rambled on about the features of the new game, explaining why it was better than its predecessor. He didn't mention about my apology, but at the same time, I knew it hadn't fallen on deaf ears either. The drastic change in conversation was Shino's way of say "I forgive you", so I didn't bother to try and bring it up again, just happy that I had the friend I knew back.

The whole ordeal was long forgotten between both of us, like a bad nightmare, it disappeared during time. Shino and I remained friends through the rest of school, and still remain friends to this day. Though, I'm not certain if his feelings to me have changed with time, I hope they have.

Regardless, I knew then that if I could handle a situation like that, that anything else life wanted to throw me; I could take it on easily.

* * *

Day four!

Um…what else do you do on Valentines day?


	5. Chapter 5

I actually lied. This is the longest chapter. It is also the worst.

Also, I can't count. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

* * *

For a while, everything was going alright. After fixing the issue between me and Shino, the year went by uneventful, but pleasant all the same. I still had my friendship with Shino, and another one growing with Yami; it seemed that nothing could destroy that content spot I was in. But I was wrong.

"Hey Yugi, you're alright, aren't you?" Shino asked one lunch.

"Course I am" I replied with a smile "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I dunno you seem kinda…down recently. Don't let life beat you up okay?"

I managed a laugh and shook my head "Honestly I'm fine, you shouldn't worry about me".

But I was lying. I was far from fine back then, I thought my world would be destroyed, and there was nothing I could have done about it.

After all, it was Yami's last year at school.

* * *

Chapter 5-Call me

* * *

I wasn't sure when I realised it was Yami's final year at school, it just happened, and it hit hard. Yami never mentioned it to me, so I presumed that I was the only one affected by the fact. I tried to keep it to myself, act as if I didn't know or simply didn't care, and enjoying my time at school. Luckily, the only person who saw through that mask was Shino, and after a while even he gave up trying to find out the answer.

At first, I thought that it was time to come clean, before it was too late. Like any good romantic movie, the stars confessed just before the end of the film, and they always got to live happily ever after. Why couldn't that be the same in real life? But, I was reminded of the past, and I became too scared to talk to Yami normally. There was still a little bit left of the year, and I didn't want to ruin it by making Yami hate me.

During football practice, I was always watching Yami, trying to spot any sign of sadness. But I saw nothing; either he was a better actor than I first thought, or it really did not bother him, unlike me. It made me feel worse about myself, knowing I couldn't share my dismay with anyone else.

Once practice was over, I returned to the locker room with everyone else and to my corner where my belongings were. I had developed a type of attachment to the dark corner, liking how it was out of everyone's way and easily forgotten, but allowing me to listen to everyone's conversations if I wanted to. I didn't realise how much I turned into a stalker, but in all honesty, it was unintentional and for harmless reasons. There wasn't much difference in topics that day anyway, the usual guy banter they had, before filing out of the locker room one by one. Soon, I was the only one left, finally picking up my pace in changing clothes.

"I'm going to miss this place" The sudden voice made me jump and turn around, seeing Yami standing by the lockers, and tapping the side of them "I've had a lot of fun here. It's my last year here you know, I'll be graduating soon".

"Oh really? I didn't know" Was my response, though it was an obvious lie.

"Yeah. Time flies when you're having fun, am I right?"

"Suppose so".

"Although" Yami took a step closer to me, approaching me with what seemed to be a mischievous smile. Just the sight of his impish nature got my insides dancing in all sorts of manners, and I had to turn away to save myself from embarrassment, fumbling with the buttons on my clothes. I could hear his footsteps echo in the empty locker room, before falling deathly silent, telling me that Yami was right behind me "There's still one thing I'm curious about".

"O-Oh? What's that?" I asked, trying to compose my breaking voice.

I looked up to see his hand pressed against the wall, and as my mind fantasied at how close he was behind me, I felt a shiver crawl speedily down my back.

"I was wondering…why you joined football club?"

The question killed my nerves, and I turned to him with shock "Wh-What?"

"Why did you join football club?" Yami repeated.

I fell numb to his interrogation, confused as to why he wanted to know right then, and whether I was able to lie to him or not. Stubborn to let his creeping grin reach me, I turned my attention back to my bag, and hurriedly packed away my belongings.

"I-I don't know" I murmured "J-Just wanted to get better I suppose…"

"Even though you don't enjoy it? There's gotta be something else".

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I pushed myself to focus solely on my bag. Yami's determination to find the truth scared me, and considering I wasn't the world's best liar, there was no way I could successfully avoid his question—though, god, I prayed otherwise.

"Well?"

"I-I have to go" I scooped up my bag, and rushed to the door, not taking any more chances with Yami "S-See you around Yami".

I didn't wait for a farewell from him, I just ran out of the locker room, and only stopped running until I had left the school altogether. My body became a sore mess; it wasn't smart for me to run at full speed right after football practice, but as long as I was far away enough, exerting my body didn't matter.

There were a few days between football practice, which gave me chance to worry, and then promptly forget my conversation with Yami. The fact that I didn't see him between those times helped greatly. I was already wrapped up with the fact that Yami was leaving that year; I couldn't even handle talking to him that year, let alone fall for his playful manner. I just hoped, whatever it was Yami had in mind, he would forget about it soon.

The next football practice was the same as always. I made sure to keep a close eye on Yami, but he was his usual carefree personality, so it seemed that Yami had forgotten about our previous talk. I tried my best to stay out of Yami's way, thinking that I could spark his memory, so avoided being put in the same uncomfortable position again. After practice was done, I hurried back to my corner, and quickly exchanged my sports clothes with my uniform. Once dressed, I grabbed my bag, and tried to sneak to the door. All I had to do was sneak past, and leave, without Yami stopping me. In my mind, it was a lot easier to do than in real life.

"Hey Yugi!" Yami's voice made me cringe. Knowing I had been caught I took a few steps back, and found Yami within the rows of lockers, changing clothes with his friends "Hang about will you?"

I gave a dismal nod, and shuffled my way past the changing seniors, until I hung behind Yami like a shadow. He took his time switching clothes—which did not help the situation at all—saying nothing to me as he did so. His friends gave me annoyed looks, before interrogating Yami's want with me, to which he said nothing except that he'd catch up with them later.

Before I knew it, everyone was slowly flowing out of the locker room, while Yami was still switching his clothes around. By the time he was fully dressed and packed his bag, the locker room was empty yet again. Dread filled me again as I cursed at the solitary we had. I wished for one of his friends to return, force Yami to leave me behind, and end the stiff situation I was in. Though it made me indescribably happy to be alone with him, I was also a body of bustling nerves, ready to flail at the slightest noise.

"Ah, seems that everyone's gone" Yami commented, breaking our silence as he looked around the locker room "Good. I wanted this to be a private conversation anyway".

My warning signs were flashing by then, and I knew that it was going to be a repeat of last time. However, I ceased function, and I couldn't move. No matter how much I pleaded with my legs, they wouldn't move, and I was stuck at Yami's mercy.

"So, I want to know" Yami said, standing closely behind me "Why did you join football club?"

"A-Again?" I asked, trying to sound like I was frustrated with the type of question.

"I want to know the truth. So, why did you?"

"I-I just wanted to…you know…"

"I'm not buying that as an excuse. Come on, tell me the real reason".

I didn't want to tell him. I was practically being forced to confess to him, even though he didn't know it, putting myself in a predicament.

"I-I have to go-"

"Oh no you don't".

Yami grabbed my arm, and before I knew it, I was forced against the lockers with Yami having a tight grip on me. I looked up at Yami, seeing the determined scowl he had, and I knew that I was screwed. I couldn't break myself out of his grip, and I was intimidated by his stare, I was victim to whatever ploy he wanted to do.

"I'm not letting you get away this time" Yami said heavily, putting our faces mere inches away from each other "Not until you tell me the truth".

"Wh-Why?" I stammered out, feeling every part of my body attempt to cringe away "Wh-What does it matter to you?"

"It just does. So, will you tell me?"

I chewed on my lip, and looked down at the hands holding me hostage, and attempted to wriggle my arms free. Though it was pointless, I was adamant not to stop, not until I was free from Yami's hold.

"L-Let me go" I begged "You're hurting me".

Though I was lying, Yami seemed to believe me, as his tough appearance turned soft quickly "Sorry" He apologised, and eased his hands from my arms, letting me go completely.

Once he let go of me, I thought it was my chance to escape; I was already planning it out in my head. As soon as he dropped his arms to his sides, I would make a mad dash to the door, and hoped against all odds that he didn't have the reflexes to catch me again. But my plan was immediately burned, by Yami himself.

His arms didn't retract, rather, he placed them either side of me. Though he didn't have a physical hold on me, I was still trapped within his presence, prisoned by his own body "But, I still want to know".

I was running out of options to choose from, and Yami's persistence started to scare me, to the point where I felt that I could easily breakdown. I was trembling, trying to avoid eye contact with Yami, while trying to work my boiling brain.

Yami leaned closer to me, pushing the boundaries between us "Well? I'm waiting".

I felt my mouth turn dry, seeing his joker like smirk back, but bigger than before. I tried desperately to speak to him, but once again, I found myself unable to produce breath. I was panicking again, while Yami found it humorous, I tried to control myself and act like a normal human being.

I thought I had a good eye on Yami, he was standing in front of me, and I could make out every devilish detail on his face. So I was completely staggered when I didn't notice him moving closer, not until his lips were on mine.

As soon as I felt the touch, my body switched off. My insides melted to liquids, my spinning thoughts halted in place, and my body ceased to function. Though it was terrifying at first, it was also fantastical. I couldn't feel my own body, but I could feel Yami as if he was in my own skin, and I could feel every press he made on our kiss. I was easily swept away into a distant ocean of desire, but with no sense or control of my body, I obediently let Yami control me instead.

The kiss lasted only a few minutes, before Yami pulled away, and produced his smirk again "Now will you tell me?"

I was flared, able to feel the fragile state Yami had left my mouth at, and finally coming to terms to what had happened. The person I had feelings for for over four years had kissed me, by his own wish, and was still willing to talk to me. I was easily overwhelmed, begging that it had to be a dream, that there was no way it could have been reality.

I sunk to the floor, sliding down the lockers, until I sat at Yami's feet. His question was still loud in my ear, and I knew that after the strange reaction I gave, I had to give him an answer. But still numb from the treatment, I couldn't think straight, and said the first thing that came to mind.

"I…I love you…"

Yami only gave a faint chuckle, no doubt amused by my dazed nature, and moved off of the lockers "I know. I always knew".

My blankness soon turned to embarrassment, as I gazed up at his horrifying height over me "Y-You knew?! H-How?!"

"I just did" Yami said, sitting himself down on the floor next to me "After all, I feel the same way about you too".

I turned to Yami, expecting to see his teasing smile, and be reassured that it was all a joke. But with his placid personality defeating his teasing side easily, I knew that it was all too real. Unable to bear looking at him, I placed my hands in my face, trying to conceal all the emotions running to my face.

"H-How…!? Y-You can't say that!"

"Why not? I really do love you" He must have noticed me cowering into my palms, because I felt his hand cup the back of my head, and tilt it up so I was no longer hidden "Why are you hiding from me like that?"

"B-Because I'm embarrassed!" I spat back at him "I-I've been…scared that you…"

Yami let go of me with a sigh, taking back his hand, and resting his head back into the locker "Yeah, I know. When you told me about your friend, I got the vibe that, even though you liked me, you were also scared of me. I decided that I should hold off, but since it's my last year here, I thought it best to sort things out before it only got worse".

I listened to his small explanation, calming myself down as I did so, and ridding my face of the insistent red colour that it had. Once Yami had stopped, we sat in silence. I wasn't sure what to say. It had been my dream to have a decent confession with Yami, but it had only remained as a fantasy, I hadn't thought on what to do in the actual situation. But, knowing that Yami had read me like a book before, I suspected he already knew of my apprehension.

I sat with my knees to my chest, my arms wrapped around them, as I stared at the ends of my shoes. I tried to think of the next step to take; what would be the most logical thing to do at that point? I could only come up with one idea, and it made my stomach churn with anxiety.

"U-Um…a-are we…? That is…do you…w-will you be my boyfriend…?"

It was pathetic. I could barely string together a sentence; I was surprised I could even splutter the question out. But somehow, despite the mess my nerves were in, I managed to ask him.

"No. I'm sorry".

The rejection killed my body instantly. I turned to him, trying to form words, but ended up stupidly gawping at him. I was lost in confusion once again; he did say he loved me too, so why did he reject me? I couldn't understand.

Yami then glanced to me, and seeing my horrified face, gave a faint smile "C'mon, don't look like that".

"H-How can I not?!" I snapped, letting my contained bewilderment come out all at once "Y-You said you felt the same way about me, and now…now you're pushing me away?! I don't understand!"

"It's not like that".

"Then what is it like?! Is it because I'm a kid or something? What? What is it?!"

Yami rested on his arm, leaning closer to me, and easily silencing my oncoming rage "It's nothing like that" He said quietly, but so soothingly "It's not because I think you're a kid, it's nothing like that, I know you're perfectly capable of thinking for yourself. But, I think you're just not ready for a relationship like this".

"Not…ready…?"

He nodded slowly, and reached out for me, brushing some of my hair behind my ear "Tell me, what do you think we'd do as boyfriends?"

I stared blankly at him, before drifting my gaze higher, so I ended up gazing at the ceiling above us. The question dumbed me, even though it sounded so trivial. What did boyfriends do together? How did they do things that other couples did? Was there a certain level to achieve in a relationship, and anything above or below it was considered ridiculous? What was the definition of a boyfriend, aside from any dictionary term? Did I have what it took to be a perfect boyfriend to Yami?

Before I knew it, I was flooded with doubts, quite literally. As many more questions swarmed in and out of my head, I could feel water beginning to bubble up within my eyes, as I knew that I was useless for Yami.

"Don't cry" Yami soothed.

"I-I'm not" I protested stubbornly, and rubbed my eyes with my arm, but that did little help for me "I-I just…I-I'm really pathetic, aren't I?"

"No. You just didn't think things through first is all".

"Well that makes me feel crap".

Yami chuckled, and I felt his hand on the back of my head again, while his lips were pressed against my forehead "It's alright. You're still a newbie, you can be forgiven. But, carrying on the way that you are, you'll just end up unhappy. Have you ever considered about yourself? What would you do if we did start dating? Become my little house wife?" I said nothing, firmly keeping my arm against my eyes, preventing any threatening tears from going anywhere "Yugi…I do love you. But, I worry that you'll be doing yourself more harm than good. So, please, think about yourself before me".

The plea made me feel sick. Not because it was Yami begging me to do something that I didn't like, or because I felt hurt by his words. But, because up until that point, I had been thinking only of me. And not in a healthy way either. Through the years I could remember, I had been adamantly pursuing what I wanted from other guys, with no thought about the consequence. I had pushed Joey away, nearly lost myself a friendship with Shino, and had less than innocent intentions with Yami himself. And it was all because I wanted to achieve something for my own gain, because I wanted it. I was sick of myself.

"I…I don't know how" I stammered out, genuinely unaware of how to be myself without the drive of someone to be next to.

Yami then grabbed my arm, taking it away from my eyes, and allowing me to stare at him again "Well, for starters, you could stop joining clubs just to get near people you like" The taunt got me blushing again, much to Yami's amusement. But, he quickly dropped to teasing act once again "But, Yugi, only you know how to be you. Think about what makes you happy, what makes you want to try hard, what makes you wake up in the mornings. But, don't devote your life to one person. I'm not into slave based relationships".

I looked away, not wanting to retort on his joke "You…knew that I joined because of you then…?" I asked, attempting to change the topic.

Yami let go of my arm then, resting back on his own "Yeah, I had a feeling, so I wanted to be sure. I could see you weren't happy about being in the club, so it had to be some other reason".

I couldn't begin to comprehend the disappointment with myself. For all the time I thought I had been subtle in my motives, tried my best to act like someone else, Yami saw through it all long before I knew. Though, strangely, a part of me wasn't surprised by it. As if, I had always known.

"But…what if I…what if I stop loving you? What if you stop loving me?" I questioned, still trying to find some loophole, with no important destination "What if…trying to do what's right…makes me lose you?"

"Well, I can't say for your feelings" Yami began, pulling his bag closer, and searching around inside it "But, I know that my feelings won't change. I can assure you of that".

I gave a disgruntled noise, finding myself boxed into a corner "Well…h-how will I know that I'm ready to date you? I-If I don't know now…"

"You'll know when you get there" Yami then held out his hand to me, and as I turned to it, realised he held a piece of paper to me "But you'll know, trust me".

I scrutinised the paper in his hand before taking it, and once in front of me, read what he had scribbled on it. It appeared to be a mobile number, Yami's mobile number.

"When you do, you can call me" He explained, slinging his bag onto his shoulder "Then we can hook up, okay?"

I felt joy rise through me again, just repeatedly reading Yami's number through my head over, and over again. After all, passing your number to someone else was like asking them out, giving them a way to contact you endlessly. I was just lucky that it was Yami's number I had.

"While I don't know what happened to you in the past, all I can say is that you can't expect everything to be the same as before" I peeled my gaze away from the number to turn to Yami, watching him stand up again "You're a brilliant guy Yugi, but you're shackled with things from the past, and that stops you from being you. You need to free yourself Yugi before you can live again, so do so before it's too late".

Yami then stepped away from the lockers "My friends are probably wondering where the hell I am. I'm sorry if I upset you Yugi, I just wanted to let you know how I felt, about everything".

"Wait Yami!" I managed to push myself up onto my feet, though shaky after the whole discussion, I was determined to stand on my own "Maybe you're right, maybe I am stuck in the past, and that keeps me narrow-minded. But…even so…I don't think I could stop thinking about you, even if I try to do things for myself. So…so could we really be boyfriends?"

Yami turned back to me, standing in front of me, and held the back of my head "Do you think we could be boyfriends?" He asked "Realistically?"

"I…I want to…yes…"

"Then you know my answer too" Yami then pulled me closer, giving another kiss, before pulling away. However, he lingered closer to me, and I expected a second kiss "Keep my number safe. I'll be waiting for your call" He then let me go, and with his content wave, left me alone in the locker room.

I stood by myself for a while, just processing what had happened between the two of us. I was happy; Yami confessed to me, and I managed to confess to him too, even if I felt slightly childish in my behaviour. It was, undisputedly, the happiest day of my life.

And yet, at the same time, the only thing I could do was cry. Silently, and to myself, but cry nonetheless.

I had the whole day left to myself, and I spent it locked away in my room. I laid out on my bed; Yami's number still in my hands, as I thought about everything that had happened. It was easy enough for me to call him anyway, pretend that I had understood what he had said, and got a boyfriend in no time. But I didn't. I couldn't because I didn't want to lie to myself anymore. For the longest of time, I thought my whole world consisted only of Yami, but I realised, that he is was only a large chunk of it. There was a much bigger world behind him.

The next day at school, I decided that I would quit football club. There was no need for it anymore, and as Yami pointed out, I clearly wasn't happy with the choice. Of course, Shino was undoubtedly surprised by the decision, but he let me go alone for once.

I came to the teachers' room, and saw Mr. Takahashi at the back of the room, so I was allowed to enter to talk to him. I made up a reason as to why I was quitting, and gave my sincere apologies for the trouble I was making, hoping that I didn't receive an earful of his lectures.

Mr. Takahashi gave a sigh, which was unusual to hear from him normally "I was waiting for you to say that" He spoke, sliding further down in his seat "But, I'll let you quit".

"You…you were waiting?" I repeated "So you knew I didn't enjoy it?"

"Kid, every boy has a ball of energy" Mr. Takahashi explained "It's natural. That ball of energy only comes out when they're doing something that they like, just like the other rascals in the club. But I couldn't see yours, so I knew you weren't enjoying it, and I knew you'd quit sooner or later. Still, it took a while for you to quit didn't it? What changed your mind? This isn't quite like you".

"Eh…I guess I just realised that I've been…stupid" I mumbled an excuse "Like you said, I haven't been doing things that I enjoy, so I thought it's about time to change that".

Mr. Takahashi gave a hum, but nodded all the same "Well, you can quit if you want. Only you can decide what's best for you kid".

"Yeah, I know".

After giving the teachers another apology for interrupting them, I left the teachers' room with a sigh, relieved that the discussion had gone so well.

"Yugi?" I looked up to see Yami approach, giving a small glance to the teachers' room "What were you up to?"

"I…I was asking if I could leave the football club" I explained "Mr. Takahashi said I could".

"Oh, so you're quitting huh?" Though he tried his best to sound calm, I could hear the disappointment present in his voice "I guess we won't be seeing much of each other then".

The thought had occurred to me earlier. The only time I got to interact with Yami was through football club, but if I quit from that, I wouldn't have been able to see him again. If I was lucky, I might have caught glimpses of him in the hallway, but there would be no real reason to talk to each other.

"Well, if that's what you want to do" Yami began walking again, only giving a brief wave "I'll see you around Yugi".

But I wasn't finished. I didn't want to shut Yami out of my life just yet, but I didn't know how else to communicate with him, I had always let football be the reason for everything.

An idea then hit me, and I smiled "You know, virtual football is much easier" I said, loud enough for Yami to hear.

He stopped in his tracks, and then turned to me, his playful smile back "Oh?"

"Mm. You don't have to worry about injuring yourself, and the computer based players are too easy to beat, easier than facing real players".

"I'll take your word for it. I'm not particularly good with video games".

This time, it was my turn to smirk "You should come over to my house sometime then, I have tons of video games, I can teach you how to be good".

"Hm? I've never had a teacher who's younger than me".

"Then I'll be your first. What do you say?"

Yami paused as he thought, but presented me with his smile "Yeah. I'd like that" Yami then held up his hand to his ear, his thumb and little finger extended, mimicking a phone "Call me".

Yami turned away to carry on walking, leaving me with only a good feeling left inside me. I truly felt that I could accomplish anything. And this time, I knew it was real.

Yami graduated from school later on that year, and from what I gathered, he went on to college. I still had two more years of school left, and I made sure to do my damn hardest. I didn't really have much of an end goal after school, but I knew I had to do my best to get as many good grades as I could, just so I had something to work on when I did figure it out. It turned out that when I did try college, it wasn't something that I was happy with, so tried to find a job instead.

While trying to do well in school, I also decided to be honest with everyone, or at least to everyone who I felt deserved to know. First on my agenda was Shino. I knew Shino still felt strongly about me, he could pretend that it never existed, but I knew you couldn't easily get rid of those feelings, just move them away. But Shino was still my best friend, and I wanted to tell him about me and Yami first anyway. He was, unsurprisingly, upset about the news. He couldn't hide the broken expression he gave when I told him how I felt about Yami, but he tried his best to keep it together, and gave me his support nonetheless. I still feel terrible for having to reject him like that, but to lie would have made him feel even worse, I'm sure. I only hoped that he would find someone else to give affection for, and I still hope for that to this day.

I next told my parents. I was more nervous about telling them then Shino, but purely because I wasn't the type of son to talk to them about things in the first place. I tried to keep my home life and my school life two separate things. But they had raised me for fifteen years of my life; they needed to know what kind of person I was. They were shocked to say the least, their only son being gay was probably the least thing they wanted me to say, my father even went so far as to say it 'could have been a phase'. I didn't try to force it any further, and I think somewhere down the road they accepted it too, I mean, they didn't exactly kick me out or call me the scum of the earth. I think they're just mostly apprehensive about how to deal with it; it's not like they hate me, I know they still love me like they did before, but I don't think they're ready to face the fact that I prefer kissing other men over bringing home a girlfriend.

I had thought about Joey as well, try and apologise for the things before. But, I felt that too much time had gone between us, and that it would have been a fruitless job to do. I just hoped that somehow, me and Joey could meet again, and forget about the past and become friends again.

Life was good for a while. Once I was old enough, and had accumulated enough money from my job, I rented out a cheap apartment to live in. I had a good friend and family, my life had reached a point where I was comfortably content, and I was happy. But even still, there was one thing I was missing.

Once I was settled in my apartment, I was lucky that I had found Yami's number, a little worried that I had forgotten to bring it with me. But with it in my hand—and with the belief that he hadn't switched phones during the years—I called him. We chatted, caught up on old times, almost as if no time had passed between us. I missed hearing his voice so much; it made me feel like a kid again, and I ended up behaving like one too, teasing him through the phone. I then reminded him about his lesson in video games, and with a laugh said that he'd be over as soon as he could, but I didn't realise he meant literally when I told him my address. Still, he ended up at my door later on that day, and I was more than happy to see him again.

Since then, we've been dating for two years, and I've finally feel complete. It's almost strange to look back at the past and comparing it with the present; I was a completely different person back then. Still, I don't regret my past, or my past-self. However, now thinking about it, I'd like to say one thing to my younger self.

Why did you let Yami get away with the things he does? I now have to live with his constant teasing, and being younger than him, I have no way of fighting back. How did I let him do this? Well, I probably wouldn't want him to change anyway; I love him the way he is now.

* * *

And happy Valentine's day everyone!

Hope you enjoy this special! I worked hard on it (though it probably doesn't show). But I wasted way too much time on it, time to go back to my regular crud! Yay!

Thanks for reading and reviewing!


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